Prosecutors in California have filed what appear to be the first felony charges tied to a motorist using an automated driver assistance program.
The driver, Kevin George Aziz Riad, is currently facing two counts of vehicular manslaughter after his Tesla, using the autopilot feature, drove through a red light in Los Angeles on Dec. 20, 2019, and slammed into another vehicle, killing two, officials said. Riad and an unnamed woman in the Tesla were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to reports. Riad is pleading not guilty, according to his lawyers.
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While Riad’s case is not the first to involve an automated driving system, it seems to be the first to involve a widely used automated driving system, meaning the results of Riad’s trial could establish a precedent for future trials involving automated driving systems.
The criminal charging documents did not mention autopilot, the Associated Press reported. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determined that autopilot was in use at the time of the crash.
In 2020, prosecutors in Arizona charged an Uber driver with negligent homicide after an autonomous SUV killed a pedestrian. The charges arose after the NHTSA ruled that the cause of the accident was the distracted driver and not a software problem.
The NHTSA announced in August that it was investigating Tesla’s autopilot system after 11 crashes occurred involving the software. The autopilot system is currently available in more than 765,000 Tesla vehicles.
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Tesla’s autopilot system enables a car to steer, accelerate, and brake within its lane automatically. It requires active driver supervision to operate and does not make the vehicle autonomous, Tesla’s website says.
Representatives from the LA District Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.
